Grieving mother lost son to distracted driving

This in regards to the distracted driving article about all these apps for our phones that causes car crashes because the driver is to busy looking at them while they are driving.

I lost my son Tyler Smedley, last year on Dec. 2 due to recording himself while driving. My son was killed instantly. Since my son’s death, I have advocated against distracted driving and work with Impact Teen Drivers when they ask me to tell my son’s story.

I also started Tyler’s Voice Against Distracted Driving. It makes me so mad that Snapchat would even have a filter to record the speed of a vehicle. I would like the creator of Snapchat to take a look at some of the pictures that we parents have to see of our children’s crash site, including pictures of the vehicle between trees, burned up, smashed between a semi.

I bet he didn’t consider any of that. I know there are some apps out there that are geared toward distracted driving. We have some students from Fresno State who are putting an app together to help with preventing car crashes. There are so many parents I have met who have lost their children to this deadly epidemic.

This story was originally published November 24, 2016 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Grieving mother lost son to distracted driving."